January Sketchwalk at Chinatown

Credits: Sketch by Phyllis Chong

Happy New Year, everyone! For the first sketchwalk of 2020, we will be celebrating Chinese New Year a week early. Please note that this sketchwalk is NOT on the last Saturday of Jan. It is ONE WEEK EARLIER on 18 Jan because the following Saturday is Chinese New Year!

We will start our sketchwalk at one end of Maxwell Road (in Chinatown near the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple) and end at the other end, where Urban Sketchers Singapore is invited to a screening of a film Memories of Chinatown by Eric Lim and Filmat36 at 2:30pm at Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre.

There is lots to sketch along Maxwell Road. Around our starting point, you can have breakfast and sketch food at Chinatown Complex Food Centre, Maxwell Food Centre or Amoy Street Food Centre. Fairfield Methodist Church (once a cinema long long ago) and the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple are nearby, as is the old rickshaw station Jinrikisha Station. Murray Terrace and Maxwell House are just across the road. If you prefer sketching in air-conditioned comfort, there's the URA City Gallery and Huggs-Epigram Coffee Bookshop in URA building. You can get an elevated view of the old St Andrew's Mission Hospital behind Maxwell Food Centre (5 Kadayanallur Street) from URA building, or take your pick of charming shophouses along Erskine Road and Ann Siang Road. Further Southeast is what used to be the Red Dot Traffic Museum, now Maxwell Chambers Suites which, after its acquisition by the Ministry of Law, houses a variety of law-related services. Maxwell Chambers, which sits opposite Telok Ayer Park, is just across the road from Maxwell Chambers Suites. It used to be the old Customs House. Further down you will come by Capital Tower and its fountain with colourful spheres, and before you reach our show-and-tell destination at Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, you will pass by the towering AXA Tower and Treasury Building, and Singapore Conference Hall, the home of our Singapore Chinese Orchestra.

Because our sketchwalk covers quite a stretch, please give yourselves time to walk from your location to reach our end point by 1215pm. There are no buses along Maxwell Road so wear some good shoes and take a leisurely stroll.

Do hang around after your lunch for the screening of Memories of Chinatown at Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre at 2:30pm. In 2019, we had our sketchwalk at Asian Civilisations Museum where Filmat36 screened Memories of Singapore River, featuring various local artists and their works. Memories of Chinatown is their second film that brings our history through the art of our local artists. Let it inspire you!


START
Time: 9:30 AM
Location: Kreta Ayer Square, staircase to L1 Chinatown Complex Food Centre
(https://goo.gl/maps/KoCz7NZcUtsSQDDTA)

END
Time: 12:15 PM
Location: Same as Starting Point

Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar (EWL), Chinatown (DTL)

Locations to sketch:
- Maxwell Road Food Centre
- Old St Andrew's Mission Hospital (https://thelongnwindingroad.wordpress.com/2018/05/27/the-hospital-at-mount-erskine-and-what-may-now-be-singapores-oldest-lift/)
- Buddha Tooth Relic Temple
- Jinrikisha Station (https://remembersingapore.org/jinrikisha-station/)
- Fairfield Methodist Church (old Metropole Cinema - https://www.roots.sg/Content/Places/surveyed-sites/fairfield-methodist-church)
- Ann Siang Hill
- URA Building, City Gallery, Huggs-Epigram Coffee Bookshop (https://danielfooddiary.com/2019/04/06/epigram/)
- Murray Terrace
- Maxwell Chambers Suites (https://thelongnwindingroad.wordpress.com/2019/07/24/a-sneak-peek-at-maxwell-chambers-suites/)
- Maxwell Chambers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_Chambers)
- Capital Tower Fountain
- Telok Ayer Park
- Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre rooftop
- etc.

Places to eat and shop:
- Maxwell Food Centre
- Chinatown Food Street
- Telok Ayer Food Centre
- Various cafes, restaurants and coffeeshops

Bring:
- Hat, sunscreen, good walking shoes, stool